The Dow Jones plunged 1,000 points while other U.S. and global stocks have fallen sharply as fears of a Chinese economic slowdown continue to plague investors.
Wall Street's Dow Jones fell by 6.4 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 4 percent and the Nasdaq lost 8.5 percent, reported The Guardian.
The drops followed already-heavy falls last week.
"Fear has taken over. The market topped out last week," said Adam Sarhan, CEO of Sarhan Capital. "We saw important technical levels break last week. Huge shift in investor psychology."
Technology stocks took the largest hit with Facebook losing 14 percent and Apple losing 11 percent, raising fears that a fresh tech bubble has burst.
In response, The New York Stock Exchange is invoking Rule 48 for the Monday stock market open, Dow Jones reported, according to CNBC. Rule 48 allows the NYSE to open stocks without indications.
"It was set up for situations like this," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderich Securities.
Rule 48 was last used in the financial crisis.
The closing of China's central bank two weeks ago raised fresh concerns about the slowdown of the country's economy, leading to two historic stock drops in both the U.S. and China.
The Shaghai Composite dropped 8.5 percent, the largest one-day drop since 2007, and the Dow Jones fell below 16,000 for the first time since February 2014, according to the BBC.
